Conventional trigger liquid sprayers utilize a sprayer nozzle at a front end, a pump operated by a trigger and a container mounted to the nozzle. The trigger typically moves in a rectangular geometry consisting of a slide traveling over a guide consisting of a single rib such that the slide encompasses the guide. This results in opposing forces acting on the single rib causing a change in the geometry that actually reduces or constricts the path of travel due to the moments created by the slide. Deformation of the guide and slide is further compounded by the lack of a mechanism to counter these forces. The rectangular geometries also result in increased surface area interaction between the mating surfaces, flat to flat. Any imperfections of the surfaces results in increased friction between the surfaces making the system even more sensitive to mold wear and conditions.
In addition, the conventional guide and slide are comprised of a relatively narrow and long geometry. This poses problems with the molding of these parts as the guide and slide are susceptible to warpage and tolerancing problems. Tight tolerances are required for effective operation of conventional trigger sprayers. Therefore, any tolerancing problems result in an ineffective trigger sprayer. Furthermore, tighter tolerancing increases the negative effect of warpage on the trigger system. Combined, these problems add to the overall force required to move the system and in some cases cause the system to "freeze" or "lock" altogether.
Due to the relatively small cross sectional area of the conventional rectangular trigger system, the forces required to move the system are concentrated over a much smaller area. This results in excessive deflection of the geometry which further compounds the binding problem.
Therefore, what is needed is a cylindrical barrel, linear slide trigger which eliminates the conventional rectangular geometry trigger system.